JESSE JAMES LEGACY PART OF PATTON HISTORY

Bob Ford, who murdered Jesse James in 1882, was himself murdered in Creede, Colo., 10 years later by a man who idolized James.

Edward O'Kelley, a heavy drinker, as he appeared soon after being arrested for the murder of Bob Ford in 1892. O'Kelley was about 35 years old.

Judi Ries, great-great-niece of Edward O'Kelley, formerly of Patton, reads a copy of her book, "The Man Who Murdered Jesse James' Murderer." O'Kelley killed Bob Ford who killed the famous Missouri outlaw. (Photo by Jim McIntosh)

Jesse James, outlaw on the run and calling himself Thomas Howard, was standing on a chair while hanging a picture in his home in St. Joseph.

Bob Ford, who rode with the James Gang, was visiting Jesse that day in April 1882. There was a reward for Jesse and Ford needed money. He drew his six-shooter and shot Jesse dead.

A poem based on Jesse James folklore refers to Ford as "The dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard and laid poor Jesse in his grave."

But whatever happened to that "dirty little coward?" Ten years after the killing, in a wild and woolly Colorado mining town, Bob Ford was murdered by Ed O'Kelley. O'Kelley used to live in Patton.

Judith Ries of St. Louis is a great-great-niece of O'Kelley and she's written a book on his rather distasteful life called, "The Man Who Murdered Jesse James' Murderer."

While many historians have chronicled the lives of Jesse James and Bob Ford, no one, says Ries, had done a biography of Ed O'Kelley. Information on him was scattered and unorganized.

Besides the recently completed biography, O'Kelley, who's buried in a pauper's grave near Oklahoma City following his death in a shoot out with police 90 years ago, has a large historical marker in Patton Cemetery in Bollinger County. Ries and family members were at the dedication ceremony Sept. 25.

The marker doesn't extol the virtues of O'Kelley -- apparently there were none. For the most part he was a drifter, a drunkard and a boor. And a murderer. The marker notes the dastardly deed he is most famous for.

"Everybody in our family knew about him, but they were very much ashamed of him," said Ries. "His father, T.K. O'Kelley, was a pillar of Patton, much revered and respected. To have his outlaw son become an outlaw killer was just too much."

In 1976 Ries began research on her father's paternal and maternal genealogy. Bits and pieces of information on the life of Ed O'Kelley began to surface. He was born in Benton, Tenn., in the late 1850s and spent his mid-teen years in Patton.

Relatives of O'Kelley who were over 65, says Ries, were reluctant to discuss their ancestor, but relatives under 65 were quite interested in knowing more about the man.

"No matter how you look at it, Ed O'Kelley got off to a bad start in life and there was a spiral of events that led to his ultimate demise in the gutters of Oklahoma City," said Ries recently, at the historic Massey House in nearby Marble Hill where she was selling her book.

"Family stories always said Ed rode with the James Gang, and he'd meet his mother near the O'Kelley barn when he made a trip through the area. But none of this has ever been absolutely documented."

Ries said she was certain, however, that O'Kelley greatly admired and respected Jesse James. According to O'Kelley family folklore, O'Kelley murdered Ford because he was incensed about Ford murdering James.

The killing occurred in Creede, Colo., about 150 miles south of Denver.

In the late 1880s, Ries writes in her book, a rich vein of silver was discovered along a creek in Creede. A tent city soon sprouted as miners, gamblers, businessmen and dance hall girls flocked to the area. Within 90 days, 500 tents and shacks peppered the rocky landscape.

Heading toward the lure of quick riches were, among others, Bob Ford and Ed O'Kelley. Bat Masterson was there for a time -- not as a lawman but as a saloon keeper.

"Creede became a bustling place during the time my great-great uncle was there," said Ries. "In 1892 alone, over $1 million in silver ore was shipped out each month.

"All this hunger for silver drew more than a few outlaws to the town, and the streets soon filled with vagrants of society."

The Creede Candle, the town's newspaper described a degenerate society:

"Creede is unfortunate in getting more of the flotsam of the state than usually falls to the lot of mining camps. Some of her citizens would take the grub stake prize at a hog show."

But Cy Warman, editor of the Creede Candle, also wrote this when street lights appeared in 1892:

"Here's a land where all are equal, of high and lowly birth; A land where men make millions dug from the dreary earth. Here meek and mild-eyed burros of mineral mountains feed; It's all day in the day time and there is no night in Creede.

The cliffs are solid silver, with wondrous wealth untold; The beds of its running rivers are lined with purest gold. While the world is filled with sorrow, and hearts must break and bleed; It's all day all day in the day time, And there is no night in Creede."

The sheriff's office was 65 miles away, Ries writes in her book, and the constant shootings in Creede kept deputies constantly on the road to the rambunctious town.

Prior to arriving in Creede, O'Kelley, who Reis describes as "a roamer and wanderer," was a police officer and trolley car driver in Pueblo, Colo., "probably the only town where he achieved some success in his life."

But O'Kelley, while a policeman and while drunk, shot and killed a black man. He said it was self-defense and he was acquitted at his trial. But he was fired from the Police Department in 1891 for drinking on the job.

Soon after his dismissal, the paths of O'Kelley and Ford crossed. They knew who each other was.

In her book, Ries describes their confrontation this way:

"Naturally, a fight was inevitable -- a regular Old West knock-down- drag-out brawl, complete with furniture throwing, broken glass, and a wide circle of onlookers.

"Ford got the upper hand and knocked O'Kelley out. As he stepped over O'Kelley's unconscious body, Ford stooped down and picked up O'Kelley's revolver and took it with him.

"The humiliation and disgrace of having his revolver, his most priceless possession, taken from him by his greatest enemy as he lay unconscious was a greater insult than even the most gracious man could endure.

"This time O'Kelley swore absolute and eternal vengeance on this defiler of his already soiled reputation."

Ries said the paths of O'Kelley and Ford had crossed many times prior to the fight incident, and there were always problems and friction between them.

"But the momentum was building toward the final confrontation," said Ries, turning to a chapter in her book called "Motives."

O'Kelley left Pueblo and drifted to Creede to work in the silver mines. Ford was already there, having opened a saloon called Ford's Exchange on May 29,1892, 10 days before his death. He was said to be arrogant and belligerent to the extreme. He bragged about having killed Jesse James.

"Bob Ford was definitely not well-liked," said Ries. "He left Missouri for his own safety, because many people thought Jesse James was like Robin Hood. And in Creede he was given to outrageous displays of temper at the slightest provocation."

A fire swept through Creede in early June and Ford's saloon burned down, Ries writes in her book. But Ford soon erected a tent saloon with planks on top of whiskey barrels to serve as the bar.

On June 8, Ford would die at the hands of Ed O'Kelley. From piecing together newspaper accounts of the killing as reported by witnesses at O'Kelley's trial, Ries draws this picture:

"June 8, 1892, dawned bright and clear. Ed O'Kelley had been up much of the night drinking, possibly trying to garner the courage to 'take care' of Bob Ford.

"O'Kelley sauntered into Ford's saloon with a sawed-off shotgun hanging loosely from his arm ... Ford was standing alone behind the bar with his back to the door.

"When O'Kelley announced his presence by saying, 'Howdy, Bob,' Ford started to turn around just as O'Kelley was raising his shotgun to his shoulder. O'Kelley fired, nearly decapitating Ford with a blast of shot through Ford's neck from close range (less than 5 feet).

"The effects of the shot resulted in a gory spectacle, the thick, dark-red blood gushing from the frightful wound in streams on either side. (The Sun, June 8, 1892).

"Ford never had a chance to even acknowledge O'Kelley's presence. Later that day, the collar button Ford had worn was found embedded in the post behind where Ford stood as O'Kelley fired the fatal shot."

Ries said that as Bob Ford took the gun from Jesse James as James lay dead on the floor of his home in St. Joseph, 10 years before, O'Kelley "calmly stooped and removed the gun from Ford's body."

O'Kelley, about 35 years old, was quickly arrested, explained Ries, and charged with murder. He stood trial the next month in Lake, Colo., and was sentenced to life at hard labor.

In 1902, O'Kelley's sentence was commuted and he was released. He drifted again to Pueblo, and from there he wandered south to Oklahoma.

According to the Jan. 21, 1904 edition of the Oklahoma City Kingfisher Free Press, O'Kelley had his final brush with the law the day before. The news story reads:

"In a desperate fight Policeman Gurnett shot and killed a man who is said to have been Edward Kelley (sic), the man who killed Bob Ford, the slayer of Jesse James. ..."

Ries recalls having Sunday dinners at her grandmother's home in Patton when she was a young girl. She remembers marveling at the stories about her great-great-uncle. She remembers wondering how a decent, law-abiding family could have a murderer in its ancestry.

"When I wrote this book, I really tried to be reasonable and unbiased," said Ries, smiling, her voice trailing off. "He had a hard life and he ended up bad and dead."

Edward O'Kelley, formerly of Patton, the man who murdered the man who murdered Jesse James, is buried in an unmarked grave near Oklahoma City.

Ries doesn't know the name of the cemetery -- there are no burial records. She says after O'Kelley was killed by the police, "they probably put him in a pine box and threw some dirt over it."

Copies of "The Man Who Murdered Jesse James' Murderer" can be obtained by writing Ries at 701 Bella Vista, St. Louis, Mo. 63125. The book is $18 plus $1.50 for postage.